Despite projections that global warming could alter the future composition of New England’s commercial fisheries, many local fishermen say they worry little about how fish will adapt to ocean changes brought about by rising carbon dioxide emissions from human-made sources.

“Fishermen don’t work that way,” said Robert Lane, owner of two New Bedford draggers. “Fishermen think trip to trip.”

Mr. Lane agrees with other fishermen who say they are too distracted by the daily struggles of earning a living at sea to be concerned with the long-term impacts of global warming: high fuel prices and restrictive fishing regulations that limit when, where and how much fish they can catch are foremost on their minds.

“They have so many other problems that are more apparent and that can affect them today,” Mr. Adler said.

Fishing management plans, closed areas and predation as well as proposed wind farms and LNG terminals in state and federal waters are some of the more immediate concerns facing the lobster industry, he said.

Meanwhile, New Bedford’s groundfishing fleet is reeling from cuts in fishing days that some fear could put many boats out of business, threatening the city’s more than $1 billion seafood industry.

Local boat owners such as Mr. Lane and Carlos Rafael, who owns a New Bedford fish processing plant and a fleet of 25 scallopers and draggers, say they have seen changes in the ocean that make them scratch their heads -- such as the more frequent appearance of summer flounder and other warm-water fish on Georges Bank. While they don’t deny that global warming might be responsible for such changes, they don’t lose sleep over it.

Change is part of the business, Mr. Lane said.

“There are always lots of variables involved,” Mr. Lane said.

As they have in the past, fishermen will adapt to whatever Mother Nature throws their way, Mr. Rafael said.

“Humans can adjust to anything,” he said.

And if warming ocean temperatures drive cod out of Georges Bank and southern species move in to replace them?

“We will adjust to that,” he said.

Flexibility has enabled fishermen to survive declining fish stocks and restrictive regulations whether through re-rigging vessels to target different species or exploring new fishing grounds.

When it comes to to adjusting their lifestyle and fishing practices to try to weaken global warming impact on oceans, local fishermen don’t seem interested. Few have traded in their pick-up trucks for hybrids or joined protests such as a recent global warming rally in New Bedford, where activists urged Congress to reduce the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Like other industries, commercial fishing fleets are guilty of contributing to global warming through fossil fuel consumption.

The world's fisheries account for about 1.2 percent of global oil consumption and emit 130 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, according to a 2005 study published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. If ranked as a country, fisheries would share the Netherlands’ position as the 18th most oil consuming nation in the world.

Mr. Lane says he looked into fueling his two draggers with biodiesel, an alternative fuel made from vegetable oil that burns cleaner than marine diesel and contributes less to global warming.

“It is so expensive, you can’t do it right now,” he said.

Fishermen will not switch over to alternative fuels until they become cost-effective, said Grant Moore, an offshore lobsterman from Westport.